Foxes and Madness
by ShadaraFoxx
Summary: The life of the Shadow Fox- my first OC Shadara is thrust into a conflict between gods, and after an 800 year old slumber, she awakens to find that a certain God of Madness has taken her along in his journey to shroud the world in madness.


LIFE OF THE SHADOW FOX

Ch.1

Before Madness

It was war. An endless battle between mortal and witch, a battle in which both sides suffered heavy losses. The Eight Guardians, lead by Death himself, and the entire witch race, locked in ceaseless conflict. This war was one to be carried on for many centuries to come. And it had. But even so, the battle reach an unexpected peak when one of the Eight Guardians, Asura, showed his true colors, in becoming the world's first kishin, and the reason why Death needed to prevent Asura from spreading his fear and madness. But even before this sudden change of events, I was one of the witches to join with Death and help cleanse the world of evil. A witch of unknown rank, or status, just another supporter. It was on that day of the end of madness, did I no longer want to be a bystander. I, like many of the other witches, only joined Death for the protection he offered in exchange for our power, so I didn't want to ruin that by wrong actions or a simple mistake. But of course being young and foolish, gave me the impression that I could be spared. But once again I was wrong. And it almost cost me my life. But I couldn't stand by and watch 'justice' be passed on someone who only meant well.

So I rebelled.

So I fought against my protector.

And I was punished.

But just before I saw the soft light around me start to close up before my eyes, I had time to recount everything that I had done, and everything I should have done. A flashback of guilt and regret.

"Another victory was won against the witches. We have successfully wiped out their entire west group. Next we target the West, and then we can go for the North and South. Then finally, their last stronghold."

I merely only stood by, away from the Guardians as they quietly talked about the ongoing war against my fellow witches, of how they reigned victorious against the evil, and how they righteously passed judgment on the wicked. It sickened me to my very soul. Watching battle after battle rage on, and my only helping it. I was disgusted with myself, hiding behind Death for protection, instead of fighting against him, next to my sisters, where I belonged. Every day, I only stood by as the Guardians slaughtered them one by one, and only to save my own skin. And for what? So in the end they can kill me too? What good would it be to them if I were alive or not? They needed me now, but once the war is over they'll have no reason to keep me alive. But when the time comes, I guess I'll get what I deserve. The price for being a coward.

"Shadara, come over here for a minute. Death would like to speak with you."

I turned my attention back to the Guardians, who were currently standing in a large circle, where one of the members- Asura if I remembered- was slightly turned to me, gesturing for me to join there discussion. I found it odd that they would need to talk to me, even if it were for something like using my magic to aid in their weapon's strength. I got that job most often. But pushing my slight annoyance aside, and walked toward the small group, and stood next in between Asura and another member named Eibon. Death was, of course, in the middle of this ring, so that he could speak to anyone in the group with no trouble. Me, I felt squished in between a six foot tall man covered in ridiculous many-layered clothing, and someone that resembled a mechanical masked person. So I was feeling pretty claustrophobic, and not just because the other warriors had their eyes locked onto me.

This time Death spoke, to my surprise, directly to me.

"Do you think you could help us on our next target? We're aiming for two warriors to ambush the East stronghold, and we have decided that another witch would be able to make that easier."

To be honest, I was feeling pretty excited. I only got to use my magic to increase a weapon's power, or use magic to repair tools, and other meaningless tasks, but never to actually assist the warriors directly. But I tried to keep myself calm and speak clearly. That didn't work as well as I wanted it to.

"I get to help? But…aren't there other witches who could do this? I mean, I'm sure there are others who can do a better job than me…."

"We specifically asked for your help, because you, unlike the other witches, have a natural ability to hide your soul wavelengths, and to hide others' around you. And that makes for a perfect ambush, wouldn't you agree?"

I can understand the usefulness of an ambush, but I never thought that it was really Death's style. He was more of a power-type warrior than a strategist to me. I was put in a position that if I didn't comply; the whole mission failure would be blamed on me for not helping if things went wrong. Damn Shinigami. Just like him to get his way any way possible.

"If it helps, I accept this task. But if I may…"

"Go on."

"I would need to be paired with a warrior who specializes in long-range attacks and has a strong offense if it comes to it."

"That would be me."

I turned my head to the speaker, and out of the line of warriors, Asura stepped forward. Some of the other warriors, I noticed, seemed to look uncomfortable in this decision. Even Death paused for a few moments, but straightened up once more, and addressed the others.

"Then it's decided. Shadara and Asura are to lead an ambush to the East stronghold. Any objections?"

He was greeted by silence. Not a single person said anything, or even moved. They only stood there, either idly fidgeting with something or staring off into space. I almost wanted to ask what the problem was, but Death interrupted me.

"You two should go immediately, and make sure to keep us updated. We'll be sending reinforcements once the fighting breaks out."

I nodded agreement, and then turned back to Asura. Once I had a good look at him, there were a lot of things that were creepy about him. I could've sworn he was wearing more than one layer of clothes, and he had his entire head wrapped around his head, with only a few blades of white streaked hair sticking up out of the mess.

The flashback ended at that point, becoming blurry as the memory 'fast forwarded' in time, skimming through the vicious battle that broke out at the East stronghold, visions of Asura brutally slaughtering everyone in the hideout without mercy, as I stood by, horror stricken, as the ground around Asura was bathed in blood, and the souls of many witches levitated, suspended, over many badly torn corpses.

The vision changed again, this time to a dark room, in which the floor was covered in hundreds of unraveled scarves, some having a three vertical eye pattern on the ends. And in the center of that mountain of scarves, Asura was hunched, his face covered with his own hands, while he began mumbling things to himself. I only stood there, about twenty feet from him, and begun to wonder why I was there in the first place. I only had begun to feel the thick atmosphere around the place, heavy and crushing, before the memory sped up once more, and briefly showed him extending his hand out, and grasped by him, a gleaming blue human soul. I only had time to register my shock, before the vision was suddenly burst open by a blinding flash of light, and once the light died, the angry figure of Death himself was standing there, poised and ready to attack.

Then Hell broke loose.


End file.
